Door control apparatus



June 24, 1947. c. BLU'M 2,422,770

' DOOR CONTROL APPARATUS Filed Dec. 1; 1944 6714236 Blum INVEN TOR,

Patented June 24, 1947 DOOR CONTROL APPARATUS Chase Blum, Cincinnati, Ohio Abl'llicttfiofi D'Eb'lilbr 1, 1944, Serial N0. 563,127

2 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for controlling doors which are comparatively difficult to open, for one reason or another.

An object of the invention is to provide a simple but effective means for facilitating the opening of a door-,- from the inside or outside,- without resort to complicated or elaborate working elements.

Another object is toyprovide for the multiplica' tion of forces in the operation of such an apparatus, to the end that any door; however tightfi-tting or frozen, will readily yield and open upon application of ordinary force to the actuating lever of the-apparatus.

Another object is to provi dea durable and reliable device of the character stated, which readily may be fitted to doors and frames having various offset relationships; as well as flush fitted 2 closing devices ma be applied to -a door such as '4'. The do'or closing device may be of any suitable type, but for the purpose of this explanation there is illustrated the door closing device of C. Bmm Patent No'. -2g046','892', dated July '7, 1936. The device includes a roller 9 adapted to contact the bumper plate. 8, and to be held against said plate by the action of springs contained within the barrels or cylinders m The aforesaid Patent doors and frames, without increasing the eifort incident to installation: 1

The foregoing and other objects are attained by the means described herein, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is airagmental elevational View showing the apparatus of the invention installed upon a door and frame.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the relative positions of parts when installed upon a door and frame.

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of a striker element, such as may be used in effecting an in stall-ation involving a considerable oli'set between the door and the frame.

Doors of one kind or another may be difficult to open for various reasons, among which are the doors also may be diiiicult to open; if the initial opening effort is required to break a frost seal, or a vacuum seal, as may sometimes be encountered in closures for refrigerators, cooling rooms, or the like. Irrespective of the reason for the difficulty in opening the door, however, the apparatus about to be described herein will solve the probhem and perform the opening operation with maximum efiectiveness, and with a minimum of expenditure of time and effort.

In the drawing 4 indicates a door mounted upon a frame 5 by means of one or more hinges '6. 'Ihe forward face of the door; which is the face shown on the drawing, may be assumed coplanar with, or offset forwardly of, the exposed face of frame 5.

In order that the door may be kept in a tightly closed condition; it may be equipped with a door closing device 1'; the function of which is to apply stereo to Fa, bumper plate oreleinent 8 of the door, as long as the door is in a; closed or nearly closedposition Any requirednumber of door No, 2,646,892 may be consulted for a detailed description of the door closing device 1-.

The device for opening the door, may comprise a lever l-z pivoted as at 13 upon a bracket 14 screwed or otherwise fastened to the forward face of the door, the lev'er being movable about it's pivotal mounting 1'3 in a plane normal or perperrdi'cular to the plane of the door 4. The bracket [4 is mounted in close proximity with the edge l5"'of the door.

Lever I: has a handle end It and a contactor end lithe latter being provided with an antirnctionmeans, an example, 'a roller I8 mounted upon vertical a'xie IQ. Between the ivot pin is and the contactor I8, the lever preferably is formed with a gooseneck configuration as indit'ated at it, so that the contactor end portion thereof will an 'ce toward the door frame substanuauyat 'ri t ahgls, when the door is swun toward the nosed position. A wear plate or striker element 2| may be applied to the frame or the door, if desired, to prevent roller 18 from injuring the frame. The striker element may be substantially her as shown, provided that the door and the frame are substantially coplanar at their outer faces. In those instances Where the outer face of the door is disposed materially forwardiy or in advance of the lane or the door frame, the Striker element ma be modified as illustrated at 2 2 of Fig; 3, to present a striking surface 23 sufficiently forward of the oor'frame, to make contact with roller ]8 in the desired manner. It may be noted that the striking sur- .face 23 can be located forwardly of the mountin flanges 2!, to any eict'eiit necessary for accomg doors offset to the frame at varying apparent that ali operator gras ing the handle It'- and pulling rorwarmy in the direction in which thedoor opens, will rock the lever I2' about its pivot 1-3 and therety apply a Very Substantial force to the striker element 2|, for initiating an open note-merit of the door. As the gooseneck p6 ion 20 of the lever is much shorter than the end beyond piv'ot l3, the force appl-i 5y th iiiielafibi to handle IE will be greatly tea in impinging upon the striker element 2'i.' r e force appued to the striker cement, mores-tier. will transmitted along an are do scribed by the gooseneck portion of the lever, with the result that roller l8 promptly advances along the exposed face of th striker element 2|, in the direction of the door edge I5. The resulting action closely simulates that of driving a wedge behind the door to initially break the seal and thereby facilitate full opening of the door. Movement of lever 12 in the clockwise direction of rotation about pivot l3, may be limited by reason of the lever abutting bracket [4 at point 25, or at any other convenient location. It is necessary that the movement of the lever be limited as stated in order to prevent inadvertent closing of the door with the contactor end I! in position to be wedged at the door jamb.

Means may be provided for manipulating the door opening lever from the inside of the door. Said means may comprise a reciprocable shaft 26 extending through a holeformed in the door at right angles to the plane thereof. The shaft may be supported at the inner and outer faces of the door, by means of metallic plates or discs 21 and 28 bored to slidably receive the shaft. Plate 21 is the exterior plate, and may be mounted upon the door in any suitable manner, as by means of screws or other fasteners 29. In a similar manner, plate 28 may be fixed to the inner face of the door.

The shaft at its outer end, may be provided with a head 30 located directly behind the lever I2 at a short distance from handle I 6.. By means of a knob or the like 3| applied to the inner end of shaft 26 at the location 32, the shaft may be reciprocated to cause the head 30 to move the lever in clockwise direction about its pivot [3, for initially wedging the door from its closed position. The shaft 26 may be provided with a stop 33, which may conveniently be in the form of a nut threaded onto the shaft, said stop being provided for the purpose of limiting the outward movement of the shaft.

Between the head 30 and the adjacent flange or bearing member 21, a comparatively light spring 34 may be interposed, this being for the purpose of yieldingly urging the handle end of the lever outwardly or away from the door, so as to maintain the roller I8 normally in contact with the, striker plate element 2! while the door is closed. This spring 34, of course, lacks the force to manipulate the lever to the door opening position; except with the aid of force applied manually to the knob 3| for moving shaft 26 toward the lever. From the foregoing, it will be understood that shaft 26 will be advanced forwardly by the action of spring 34 when'the door opener is actuated by means of handle I 6. When said lever is actuated from inside the door, shaft 26 is advanced by means of force applied to knob 3| in the direction of the shaft head 30.

The device 4 herein disclosed is applicable to practically any door, or may be rendered applicable by associating it with a striker element properly extended to compensate for the offset between the frame and the outer face of the door. In the application of the device to refrigerators or cooling compartments, for example, the control means for the door consisting of the door opening device and one or more door closers such as 1, results in anormally tight closure preventing leakage through the jamb and thereby effecting a saving of power or refrigerant. A door controlled in accordance with the present invention prevents day and night loss or waste, in the maintenanoe of desired temperatures within a refrigerator or cooler. The door may be opened as effectively from the interior of the cooler or refrigerator as from the exterior thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A door opener comprising in combination, a lever having a handle end and a contact end, and means for pivoting said lever on the door for rocking movement in a plane normal to the door, with the contact end thereof projecting beyond an edge of the door to overlie the door frame, the pivot means being so located upon the lever as to advance the contact end toward the door frame, upon displacement of the handle end away from the plane of the door, a striker element on the door frame, and anti-friction means on the contact end of the lever, in constant engagement with the striker element while the door is closed, a shaft extending through the door for displacing the handle of the lever, and a spring associated therewith to yieldingly maintain said constant engagement between one end of the shaft and the handle end of the lever, a hand grasp on the opposite end of the shaft for manually reciprocating the shaft, and adjustable stop means on the shaft between the hand grasp and the spring for limiting reciprocation of the shaft in the direction of displacement of the handle to the door opening position.

2. The combination of a door and a door frame, a door opener comprising a lever having a handle end, and an opposite end of gooseneck formation, means pivoting said lever upon the door adjacent to the gooseneck portion of the lever, said pivoting means being upright so as to support the lever for rocking movement in a plane perpendicular to the door, with the gooseneck portion projecting beyond an edge of the door to overlie the door frame, a striker element on the frame, a terminal end on the gooseneck portion of the lever directed substantially perpendicularly to the striker element, a roller on the terminal end of the lever, a shaft extending through the door for reciprocation transversely of the plane of the door, said shaft having a head on one end thereof to contact the lever, a pair of apertured plates applied one to the outside surface of the door, and the other to the inside surface thereof, with the shaft extending through the apertures of the plates, 2. hand grasp on one end of the shaft interiorly of the door, adjustable stop means on the shaft between the hand grasp and the interior plate of the door, for limiting reciprocation of the shaft in the direction of displacement of the handle to the door opening position, and yielding means applied to the shaft for maintaining a contacting relationship between the shaft and the handle end of the lever.

CHASE BLUM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,244,910 Smith Oct. 30, 1917 1,147,284 Vickers July 20, 1915 1,857,294 Larson May 10, 1932 761,290 Fagan May 31, 1904 2,242,895 Roe May 20, 1941 1,394,126 Schmidgall Oct. 18, 1921 1,919,328 Hansen July 25, 1933 1,171,775 Downing Feb. 15, 1916 742,090 Watson Oct. 20, 1903 1,532,447 Schrader Apr. 7, 1925 

